novelraw Chapter 231 Online Rumors
Chapter 231 Online Rumors
The light from the phone screen reflected on Gu Yanshen's face, making him look as cold as a knife.
The topic went viral. A dark red "viral" character followed the search term, like congealed blood on a wound.
#Gu Yanshen's illegitimate son, get out of the Gu family!#
He scrolled down expressionlessly; the comments section had long since become an execution ground.
"A bastard child who can't stand the light of day, does he even deserve to steal the Gu family's inheritance?" The number of likes jumped up and down, breaking 100,000 in just ten minutes. "Your mother was shameless back then, having cheated on you and now you shamelessly steal what belongs to someone else's legitimate descendant. Like father, like son, like son."
Gu Yanshen's finger paused for a moment. Instead of swiping away, he clicked on the details page of the comment. The poster's profile picture was a cartoon character, and the signature read "Justice will never be absent."
justice.
His lips twitched, but he didn't smile.
Further down, an account claiming to be a "veteran of the Gu family" wrote: "The Gu family patriarch, a man of great renown, had his entire family ruined by a bastard. This illegitimate son has disgraced the Gu family ancestors for eighteen generations; he will have no face to face his forefathers even after death!"
"Bastard".
This word appeared no less than a hundred times.
Some say he is "born with original sin," while others say he is "a heartless ingrate." The most outrageous thing is that someone seriously wrote a long essay arguing that "illegitimate children are inherently cold-hearted and ambitious, and should never be sons-in-law."
Gu Yanshen scrolled past the trending topics without expression. As a child, he would clench his fists; now, he just found it... laughable. The insults were always the same few phrases, lacking any originality. He was already immune to them.
Gu Yanshen has been removed from the trending topics list.
I clicked on another one.
#Lu Xiran, Haicheng's Number One Green Tea#
His pupils suddenly contracted.
Unlike the comments that attacked him—those he had long since become numb to—the insults directed at Lu Xiran were almost all filled with a kind of perverse, fantasizing malice.
"Isn't this textbook example of a mistress? She got on Gu Yanshen's side by sleeping with him, then turned around and flirted with Xin Mubo and Xie Si'an. Does she really think she's some kind of Mary Sue heroine? Trying to have her cake and eat it too, isn't she afraid of capsizing and drowning?"
The veins on the back of Gu Yanshen's hand, which was gripping the phone, bulged.
He continued scrolling down.
"Gu Yanshen, are you blind? This woman has a vixen-like face; she's been with countless men before, and you still treat her like a treasure? You're bound to be cuckolded sooner or later!"
"I dug up Lu Xiran's old photos, tsk tsk tsk, she was with Xie Si'an back in high school. Now she's hooking up with Gu Yanshen just a stepping stone; she was also flirting with Xin Mubai recently. Once she finds someone richer, she'll dump you immediately. Whoever gets involved with a woman like that is doomed!"
Gu Yanshen knew that every word in those words was fabricated out of thin air. He knew that the thousands of fingers on the other side of the screen were, in the name of justice, pouring buckets of filth at the people around him.
He left the topic, took a deep breath, and then—he saw Song Zhihe trending on social media.
#My heart aches for Song Zhihe#
The comments section presents a completely different picture.
"My sister is so kind, gentle, low-key, and has an innocent background. Why did she let that kind of supporting female character steal her man? It's true that good girls can never compete with sluts. This world is too cruel to honest people."
"Song Zhihe is the one Gu Yanshen should marry. A pure and aloof beauty, never fighting or vying for anything, yet she was snatched away by a discarded woman. Gu Yanshen, you'll definitely regret it later, regret it to the core!"
"Look at Song Zhihe's Weibo, it's clean and tidy, she never flaunts luxury goods or goes to nightclubs. Then look at Lu Xiran, she's covered in designer brands, I wonder how many people she slept with to get that. It's obvious who the real white moonlight is and who the fake socialite is."
Gu Yanshen closed his eyes.
White moonlight.
The word almost made him laugh out loud—if he could still laugh.
Ironically, true malice often wears the cleanest clothes.
Just as he was about to turn off his phone, another keyword caught his eye.
#JinQiqiConfirmedToBeASeaQueen#
Gu Yanshen paused for a moment. He clicked in, and the comments section suddenly became extremely vulgar.
"Jin Qiqi? Everyone in Haicheng knows her! Back in the day, she was the queen of nightclubs, changing boyfriends faster than she changed clothes. The title 'Queen of the Sea' wasn't given lightly. A piece of trash like that, no wonder even Bichen wouldn't be interested!"
"What decent mother-in-law could accept a daughter-in-law like this? Her private life is chaotic, and she's rumored to be pregnant and forcing marriage. You should be grateful the Gu family doesn't mind, yet she dares to argue with her mother-in-law? She's shameless!"
"Jin Qiqi is a classic example of 'getting married while pregnant'—first, she uses her pregnancy to lock in the man, and then she confronts her mother-in-law after entering the family. Unfortunately, her mother-in-law isn't stupid; she's the eldest daughter of the prestigious Lian family, and she sees right through her. A womanizer is a womanizer; she can't be whitewashed."
Some comments even made sarcastic speculations: "I heard Jin Qiqi used to have an affair with Gu Yanshen? That's terrifying to think about... The social circle in Haicheng is really dirty; everyone sleeps with each other, and in the end, they're all entangled. Top socialite? More like a top-tier 'public bus'!"
Gu Yanshen knew that this was not just a media storm. It was an organized, premeditated, and multi-pronged attack.
He was portrayed as an "ungrateful illegitimate son".
Lu Xiran was falsely accused of being a "scheming bitch".
Jin Qiqi was falsely accused of being a "sea queen".
Song Zhihe and Lian Bichen, on the other hand, are portrayed as the victimized "white moonlight" and the "normal mother-in-law".
Each label precisely strikes at the public's most sensitive nerves: the original sin of birth, female chastity, the conflict between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, and the pure fantasy of the "white moonlight." Four poisoned arrows, aimed at different targets, yet originating from the same darkness.
The number of trending search terms is still rising.
#Support Lien Pi-Cen#
#Those who use their child to gain position will surely face retribution#
#Lu Xiran, get out of Haicheng#
Comments began appearing in the comment section in a "coordinated attack" style, linking several people together to hurl insults:
"Gu Yanshen (illegitimate child) + Lu Xiran (scheming mistress) + Jin Qiqi (a slut and a womanizer), these three are a perfect match. Birds of a feather flock together! Only Song Zhihe and Lian Bichen are normal people, but unfortunately they are bullied by this group of monsters."
"I suggest Gu Yanshen, Lu Xiran, and Jin Qiqi form the 'Shameless Supergroup,' and their debut song should be called 'I Steal People, I'm Proud.' One steals family property, one steals men, and one steals sperm—that's it!"
Gu Yanshen turned his phone upside down and placed it face down on the table.
The screen is facing down, as if burying those noisy malices in the ground.
But the trending topics won't disappear. Those fingers won't stop. Those onlookers who treat other people's suffering as fodder for their own entertainment will be even more vocal in their criticism tomorrow, because they never know who they're criticizing—nor do they care.
Outside the window, the city lights blaze. Under each light, there may be someone typing, using the most cutting words to fuel their cheap and safe sense of morality.
Gu Yanshen slowly raised his head and asked Lin Chen, who was sitting opposite him, "Is it him?"